Part 2 - originality and art

Part Two – The “why” I create and share

Last month I posted a rant about my thoughts concerning Banality vs. Creativity, and their effects on our world. This time I'm going to dive into the reasons that I'm creating an sequential illustrated story set in a vivid fantasy world. It is this world that I hope to convey an enriched background and history, along with something a little different from everyone else's “something different” worlds. Which brings us to our first vocabulary word of the day -

o·rig·i·nal·i·ty [uh-rij-uh-nal-i-tee] noun

1. the quality or state of being original.

2. ability to think or express oneself in an independent and individual manner; creative ability.

3. freshness or novelty, as of an idea, method, or performance.

(definition gleamed from this on-line reference)

Originality – a very rare talent, it seems, in our modern world. Hollywood has been regurgitating popular movies from decades ago – re-making them, mangling them, updating them – all for the mighty dollar. Some of these have been pretty awesome, done right, others …. not so much so. We'll use these examples to expand this idea. Some of the new versions of popular classics from yester-year take an idea, toss it together with a new twist and a splash of someone's personality and BAM! Shake-n-bake deliciousness served up on your plate. But to me, the majority of these re-makes fall far short of this concept – to me they are just made in an attempt to make money. The artistic passion is void from these, the spark of originality that engages people's wonder is missing.

The flip-side of this “originality” coin is that there are some that use this as their only selling point. While their artistic endeavor is original, it isn't engaging; it doesn't inspire a sense of wonder or awe. Some, however, engage a sense of horror or of the abhorrent – a shocking of the consciousness. Now, don't get me wrong – there are places for such creations – but projects solely based on these concepts alone, are they truly art? Our second vocabulary word of the day -

art [ahrt] noun

1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.

3. a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.

4. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.

5. any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art.

(definition gleamed from this on-line reference)

I suppose one of the great things about art is that it's open for subjective interpretation. It annoys me when some art critic says that this painting means this, or this poem indicates that. It's all find and dandy – for them – but if the artwork evokes some kind of response from the viewer, who is to say that, according to said critic, it's the wrong response? If the art work engages the viewer's imagination, triggers a bit of wonderment, or touches upon an emotion, who cares what a critic says – the art work has done it's job.

This, of course, boils over into the understanding of art. If you view a painting or listen to a song, and enjoy it, does that mean that you “get” what the piece means? Does that mean you “get” where the artist is coming from? Maybe. Maybe not. With every soul comes a little bit of madness – the artist just decides to embrace that madness and put it to use. But what fuels this “madness?” What keeps it going?

Personally, I almost become giddy when someone says to me “I can see that you are really into your art,” or that “I can see in your eyes that you are very passionate about this.” I think something along these line is a fantastic compliment. “I can see some influence from [insert artist / writer /etc. here] in your work.” This is the part where (I hope), I'm able to connect these thread into a better understanding of what I'm doing.

I think all artists are effected by all the intriguing elements that come into their life – both good and bad. Just like everyone else, they are products of their environments. Personally, I've been subjected to comic books, horror movies and a ton of fiction fantasy, sci-fi and pulp adventures. Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones – staples of my diet. Classics, such a Doyle, Howard, Lovecraft, Poe and Wells, along side the history and mythology of ancient cultures – a treasure trove to mine ideas from. There are so many fantastic ideas that I get from all of this – some of which I can tie together, others are independent and deserve there own significance – this is where my crazy ideas come from.

From a vast library of reference and resource material, I chose the ideas and / or threads that I like from a multitude of sources, and attempt to weave them into something different, something personal – something that, while inspired by the work of others, is uniquely mine. I realize that I'm neither professional writer nor professional artist, but I like to think of my meager skills in both are almost adequate to bring you an piquant tale, hopefully something that you might be interested in enough to return to read the new pages. I suppose it is slightly narcissistic of me, but I desire to share this with others, hoping they will enjoy it as well, and perhaps inspire them to create something that they enjoy and be brave with sharing it.

Once again, I have been overly verbose and not quite answer the “big” question – what is the gist of all this insanity. I am horribly bad about hitting tangent with things I'm passionate about, so I suppose I'll have to finally get around to answering that one next time.

Stand-by for an answer!

Same bat-time,

same bat-channel!

Creativity vs. Banality (or, my thoughts as to why it matters)

Two diametrical ends of the same spectrum; an endless battle in today's world...

This is going to be, I hope, a two-fold answer to some important questions that I have been asked. I guess before I start my rant, I need to define the two boundaries that I'm about to tackle. And I want to burst some bubbles of people that have a misunderstanding of the creative process. First is creativity, defined as such -

cre·a·tiv·i·ty [kree-ey-tiv-i-tee, kree-uh-], noun

1. the state or quality of being creative.

2. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.

3. the process by which one utilizes creative ability

...and banality, defined as such -

ba·nal·i·ty (bə-năl′ĭ-tē, bā-) n. pl. ba·nal·i·ties
1. The condition or quality of being banal; triviality.
2. Something that is trite, obvious, or predictable; a commonplace.


(both definitions are taken from this on-line dictionary )


Call me jaded, but it seems to me that our modern world is so full of banality – it is being taught in our public schools, supported by popular media, and infecting everything and everyone. To me, this is a very negative influence – not just on me – but on everyone. Now, for just a minute, let's all put on our conspiracist tin-foil helmets. Ok, ready? There is a science behind all this, called psychology. Media outlets, corporations, and even governments uses psychology to manipulate their consumers, to achieve whatever ends they are after, and to influence your actions and thoughts. I can't say for certain that this isn't an unexpected side-effect, but it seems to have the effect of slowly crushing the imagination factor.


I like trying to be well-read, on important news worthy events, scientific progress, and humanitarian events. I try to exclude pop-culture events, soap operas, and pop-icon drama (unless it's causes me to giggle). But this, in and of itself, can be overwhelming when you try to be as objective as possible. Instead of gleaning my news from one source, I feel the need to read four different web sites – on just one topic! Today's news-feeds seem to be very subjective, for the most part. Call me bland in this aspect, but I prefer my news kinda like Joe Friday preferred his witnesses - “Just the facts, just the facts.”


21^st century Earth has a sensory overloading banal-vibe, where originality is suppressed – even regarded as a handicap by some. I suppose in ways, it can be, but with out creative people, our world would not have the man-made wonders of which most take for granted. Which brings me to the positive end of this spectrum. (You can remove your tin-foil helmets now)


Creativity is your mind at play; it is both a release and a builder for stress. The release part is you doing what you want to do, when you want to do it, how you want to do it. The stress comes from doing something for someone else, on their time schedule, and the way they want it. This can be one of the few positive stresses that I've discovered during my life – this is a structured challenge. And who doesn't like an occasional creative challenge, right?


But in today's world, I find days that my creativity is struggling to survive, being humbled by the corporate world and it's lurid burden. Part of that is an inter-personal difficulty of my own making – I love logic, and science, and deconstructing manufactured stuff – electronic, mechanic, pneumatic – it doesn't matter. I admit it – I'm very curious about stuff in general. I strive to know, to read – to understand. And that is my own double-edged downfall.


When I draw things, when I design things – they must make sense to me; they have to look like they would work – even in a world full of magic, they would still have to work in our real world. Without me realizing it, the this is caused, in part, by the two hemispheres of my brain working against each other. One half is logic, and science, and physics, and real world stuff. The other half is fantasy, imagination, make believe, and things that could be, should be, would be – in another dimension.


This, needless to say, irritates me to no end. That is, until I realize that I'm working against myself. Sometimes, I start out in synch – I harmonize my brain and flow right into my work. Most times, I'm distracted when I start and it takes me a little bit to synchronize my cerebral functions. I allow myself to be distracted by the – you guessed it – banality of reality. I feel like this is an almost life & death struggle to keep my creative juices flowing. Some days it's worse than others. Part of this could be my paying job, part of it could be that there is very rarely any good news in the news – it's all horrific, showing how bad people and the world can be. It's almost enough to make some want to crawl under their blankets and stay there. Almost.


But are those good enough reasons to quit? I'd have to say “No!” in a rebellious way. Engaging stories, captivating visuals, and enchanting music is a way of freeing yourself from such slavery, such revulsion. I remember as a child, waiting on the next comic to hit the stands; the next episode of Batman on TV - a sense of wonder and excitement. I can recall the adventure of opening a new book to read, or the soothing effect (or adrenaline rush) of a certain song. Then later, I discovered crafting things with my hands, forging weapons, building houses, working on cars – I loved these activities as well! Looking back now, I see them all as a creative process, something that has enriched my soul over all these decades.


These are some of the reasons as to why I choose to create – I want to use my experiences in some artistic medium to share some of this energy, and hopefully give that to others. I like to think of my public work as helping against the mundane element of our modern life. To what degree? I can't say, but I hope it is just enough to help others with their creativeness.

Inside Fort Armistice

Our heroes deliver the message they received in the last chapter, which potentially opens up another job opportunity for them. And possibly adding two more members to our group of adventurers.

Ever get to the point with something, your attitude just goes to “meh” before you get finished? Yeah, that's what happened with this page. I just got lazy and didn't do any shading or highlights.  Although, in my defense, I have done some updates on the About and the Archives pages.  I'm also in the process of doing to updates foe the Encyclopedia page.

Until next page,

      same arcane time!

             same arcane site!

Meanwhile, back to our main story

End of the cut scene and back to our main characters.  An uneventful river journey from Bone Marsh to Fort Armistice, to deliver a message from Brigga.

Mostly happy with this page, although looking at it on-line, I should've put more action, and background people, into the scenes.  *shrug* Oh well, maybe next time.

Finally, a name ...

Well, now we have a name for the mysterious wizard - looks like I might need to do an encyclopedia update now ...

Could this story's prelude be a most sinister turn of events for our heroes?

Yet again, I'm mostly pleased with this page.  However, me & ice caverns seem not to jive too well together.  Ah well, live & learn, right?

And I'm trying to take some advice from an old friend ...

No sure who made this, but I definitely believe in giving credit where credit is due.  If anyone knows, please post in the comments.  Also, I realize the Batman is property of DC Comics, and this version is property of Time-Warner - no infringement is meant.

A sinister beginning ...

At least, that's what it is meant as.  Another page of the mysterious wizard, which we had a glimpse of here, back in chapter one.  Wonder what he is up to?  Who could that be with him?  And who in the Arcane Compass is this Loki?

(to quote Space Ghost) Stand by for an answer!

Mostly pleased with this page, but the icy caverns are a learning experience.  Hopefully the future pages in this cut scene will convey the cold, icy, rime nature better than this one.  *shrug* It's all a learning experience.

Chapter Two's beginning - finally ...

Well, here it is a brand new year, just bristling with all kinds of unknown opportunities.  So, I figured why not get off my lazy butt and start chapter two - which is only nine months late (or so).  I really don't have an excuse, other than life has a way for derailing the best laid plans.

But here we are with the second thrilling chapter in our epic tale.  This chapter will see our heroes travel to different lands, meet new friends and encounter deadly enemies.

I will admit that I am nowhere near where I should be with the artwork and page layouts, so I think to begin with, we'll try to keep a twice a month schedule with the comic, and see how that goes.

Happy New Years wishes to everyone, and may the best of fortunes find you all!